Happy New Year

my men

Last day of 2014.  It's been a good year.  We've been happy and healthy and able to serve and learn and grow. The children are all doing well.  We've done some really fun things and spent a lot of time with our families.  We've been blessed blessed blessed!!

We slept in this morning.  Nice.
We made waffles and had breakfast together then had family cleaning hour, which turned into family cleaning several hours.
Hannah and I went grocery shopping.

Then we went to a wedding reception.  Julia Smith married Taylor Wardle.  The reception was so pretty.  We drove across the bridge to Solomon's island and I enjoyed looking at the boats lite up for Christmas out on the water.  We had a lovely time visiting with friends, Julia looked beautiful and the food was delicious, especially the cake that Amy made.  Weddings are so fun!

The children were anxious to go home because we had a fun NYE party to go to at the Ely's.  We played games and ate and talked.  Loved it!

These two reenacted a photo that they took long ago :)

first kiss of the year

I love our awesome friends and the good times we share.

Photogenic little bunch

Happy to be back:)

Last Day

I spent the night at Dani's last night. The snow is so pretty in the mountains and so cold all around. Winter. Brrr!

We had a wonderful day together. We ate some yummy food (Zupas my fav, potatoes and chili, movie popcorn, etc).

We went to the dollar show (miss that) and Penny and I enjoyed some good lobby time:) we played games and puzzles, watched a movie, looked at Marshall's cute baby clothes, visited with Val.

I had lots of time for good chats and hugs and games. So grateful.

Meanwhile things are fine at home. Hannah's been cooking up a storm. I'm excited to be home with them.

Family Time

My Utah trip has been filled with some good moments. The funeral was really nice. I was very glad to be able to come and be there for Jenna and Clayton. I know they were so appreciative and Rob and I both thought it was important. I am so very grateful for his support. I'll probably write more about the funeral when I get home again. 

I've been staying with mom and dad which has been really nice. I haven't had a lot of time alone with them and it's been fun to talk and just to be together. Andrea and Yoho and the boys are also staying there and again it's been really wonderful to see them. Noah grew a lot since this summer and is such a little love bug and Reggie is getting so big! I've enjoyed visiting with them and talking about life and cancer and family. Yoho is doing well and is really facing his treatment with optimism.

Today I went to church with mom and dad. This evening we had family dinner. Val and fam, Michael's family, Andrea's, mom and dad, the Brandts and the Johnsons and Sierra and also Justin Idiart and his kids came. We ate and visited and it was awesome.

Andrea sells Agnes and Dora and we had a little shopping party:)

After the evening was over I headed to Dani's for the night. This little red riding hood helped clean off the snow from the car and then was so excited to have her mom sit in the back seat with her!

Looking forward to one more day and then heading back to the family. They've been troopers and I'm so grateful for their sacrifice and good cheer.

Utah

Sierra and I flew to Utah today. We had a great visit with her. Fortunately we were able to rearrange travel plans and she could come earlier than we planned and then we flew back together so we could go to Kathy's funeral. We also postponed our Atlanta trip but everyone was very understanding and wanted to do what we could to support Clayton and Jenna. So our flight was fine. We took off, flew, then landed. Mission accomplished.

Tonight Andrea and Yoho, Dani and Greg went to the movies and I get to hang out with these cuties:)

Birthday!

Sierra is 24 today!!!! Happy Birthday!!

Some fun shots of the family!!

Christmas

Happy Christmas Day!!!

We were, as always, spoiled.  Favorite gifts: Grace liked her fly tying kit, her remote control helicopter and her elephant. Ethan liked his helicopter, hover soccer ball and new jersey. Hannah said her favs were her wiener dog pen, her herb garden and her Minnie Mouse onesie.  Sierra liked her capitals gear, her pajamas and her book.

We skyped all the family, which was great!

In the afternoon we went to the movies and saw Into The Woods. S and H liked it. E and R hated it. G and I were mixed.

Then we went to the church gym to fly the helicopters.

Fun:)

Next in the agenda is celebrating Sierra's birthday!

Christmas Eve

Found this awesome quote from Spencer W Kimball in a booklet called 'Christmas with the Prophets': "Though we make an effort to follow the [Savior's] pattern of gift giving, sometimes our program becomes an exchange -- gift given for gift expected. Never did the Savior give in expectation. I know of no case in his life in which there was an exchange. He was always the giver, seldom the recipient. Never did he give shoes, hose, or a vehicle; never did he give perfume, a shirt, or a fur wrap. His gifts were of such a nature that the recipient could hardly exchange or return the value. His gifts were rare ones: eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame; cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless. His gifts were opportunity to the downtrodden, freedom to the oppressed, light in the darkness, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing. His friends gave him shelter, food, and love. He gave them of himself, his love, his service, his life. The wise men brought him gold and frankincense. He gave them and all their fellow mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life. We should strive to give as he gave. To give of oneself is a holy gift... We can do nothing more to show our love for him than to give of ourselves in a silent, quiet, loving way. This, the gift of self, is the highest gift of all."

Christmas Adam

Movies, mall, carolers at our door, curry shrimp made by Hannah, family scripture time, some games of blokus, chocolate chips cookies. These are the things our day was made of.

sharing cheer

Last night Hannah and I drove to the airport to pick up Sierra!! Yay!!! I was so excited and looking forward to her coming!  We left at 9pm and hit traffic?  What is that about??  Luckily her flight was an hour late so we got there long before she landed, sadly it was about 2:30am when we got home so we were tired.  We slept in in the morning, Grace walked Z and played quietly.

This morning Hannah had piano lessons, again we were fortunate as we had scheduled it for 10:30 and not earlier.   After that we made breakfast together and then got ready to  go to the Martines' polar express party.  Sister Metcalf (sr)'s mom recently passed away.  She left Linda her stash of fabric.  Knowing that her mom would really want to do something for the veterans who live in the Veterans Home (350 of them) she decided to make quilts for each of them.  She has enlisted the help of all who are willing.  Hannah's been working on quilts for a few weeks.  Colleen got 9 quilts and we tied them together.  It was a lot of fun as we quilted and visited.

The Streeters also came.  All the kids cheerfully worked for 3 hours, they were fortified by yummy treats which they stopped to snack on from time to time.  It was a great way to celebrate the season together.

Tonight we ate pizza and watched a movie.  Also Sierra has been helping Hannah straighten her abyss.

Getting closer

The countdown to Christmas is growing closer and closer. Yesterday was a pretty fun day. Rob and Hannah and Ethan went to the movies to see the hobbit. Then they went out to lunch and did some shopping, they said they had a wonderful time.

Meanwhile Grace and I stayed home, she helped me do some cleaning up and was a huge help. Then we decorated Christmas cookies for the ward party. I was happy with how they turned out. When we were done with our chores we headed over to the Christmas village. The village was very festive, very crowded, and although we only stayed an hour we had a good time. Fluffy the 2nd died the night before and Grace was very sad she thought he was a great little fish. On the way home from the Christmas village we stopped at the corner pet store and she negotiated skillfully and brought home four guppies.

The ward party was really really fun. Everyone involved put in so much work and I think it was one of our nicest ones. We played a game where you put a paper plate on your head and then listen to directions to make a Christmas story. I have to say my paper plate art turned out pretty good as I think you can tell what it supposed to be.

The night before during Hannah's friend party I crocheted a little hat. It was supposed to be for Grace but when it was done I realized that it was more Alva's size. This morning we took it to her and it looks just darling. Probably because the model was such a darling little thing!

First night of vacation!!

Friends

Food

Pesky younger sibs

Elf

Good times!

Morning fun

Last day of school before the CHRISTMAS break!!!  This morning Hannah walked into my room at 5:45, "mom, can I look in your closet for something ugly to wear?" 

Me: "you won't find anything, I don't have any ugly clothes."

Then we both laughed and I went to my closet and offered her some ugly choices.

The Seminary class this morning. These guys are devoted. Every morning they meet at 6:15 to study the gospel. I love the seminary program it is so amazing! I don't love the early morning start time. I went for four years, Dani went for 3 1/2 years, Sierra and Jenna each went for four years. Hannah is almost halfway done with her seminary years. Then we have just Ethan and Grace left. Fortunately there has been some overlap!

6:15 AM. Ethan tells me he needs to wear "holiday attire". Does he own a Christmas tie?

7:15 am:

"Mom, I forgot to tell you we are having a gift exchange at school today. " Grace.

Scrounge, discard, look some more, argue a little, finally got to gift together.

7:45, we are driving to school. Maybe it's not really a gift exchange…

East and West

Chelsea, Ashley and Hannah

Tonight I took these three cuties to work at the temple visitor center. They said they had so much fun, I'm so proud of them for donating their evening to a good cause! While they were there I went to the temple.  It is always a special and sacred experience going to the house of the Lord. Today even a little more so than usual. What a blessing it is to be able to be taught and strengthened.

We stopped at chipotle for dinner and then they sang all the way home:)

Meanwhile on the West Coast there is some serious cookie baking going on!

Look at those precious faces!!